Foreign-ministers-in-waiting don't drop clangers for nothing. When the then Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Taro Aso spoke last month at the newly-opened Kyushu National Museum in Dazaifu, Fukuoka Prefecture, he fully expected his clanger to resound and reverberate when it hit the ground. Now, just weeks later, Mr. Aso has been named foreign minister in the new Koizumi cabinet.
As reported in The Japan Times (Oct. 18), Mr. Aso stated that Japan comprises one nation, one civilization, one language, one culture and one race. And this at a museum that is dedicating itself to Japan's historical and cultural ties with other Asian countries!
Before looking at the ulterior motive for such a misguided and unschooled claim, let's examine its content. Is there actually just one Japan that has, in every cultural and ethnic sense, the consistency of a big block of Kraft cheese?